Triathlon NSW Board

The Triathlon NSW Board Directors are elected by the Members at the Annual General Meeting. Comprising the President plus 5 other Interested Directors, those six Directors serve a two-year term on a rolling basis (i.e. 3 positions open for election each year).

Board of Directors

The current Board of Directors consists of:

President

Glenn Schwarzel (2008-)

Vice President

Tommy Morwood (2018-)

Interested Director

Michael Gleeson (2014-)

Interested Director

Lucy Burgmann (2014-)

Interested Director

Carolyn Egan (2019-)

Interested Director

Steven Newman (2017-)

Independent Director

Jo Banning (2018 - )

Independent Director

John Stroud (2012 - )

GLENN SCHWARZEL - PRESIDENT

Glenn became interested in triathlon back in 1991 doing the run leg for a team at the Noosa Triathlon. He had to learn to swim before I could complete his first standard distance triathlon, again at Noosa, in 1999. Since those early beginnings he’s competed in several standard distance World Championships and 2 Cross Tri World Championships.

Glenn is the President and a Life Member of the Macarthur Triathlon Club and joined the Board of Triathlon NSW in 2008. He was the Race Director for the Sydney Triathlon Series and the All Women’s Triathlon in 2010/11 and has been the swim manager and race starter for all the NSW Club Championship races held at Forster.

In 2010 he successfully obtained a $500,000 grant to design and build a new triathlon facility in Sydney’s South West.Corporately Glenn held various administrative, accounting, auditing and key client manager roles as a Senior Executive Officer in the Australian Public Service. Glenn retired from full time work in 2014.

Why does he want to contribute to the sport of triathlon as a member of the Triathlon NSW Board?

My involvement in triathlon seems to have grown year on year. I’d like to see the sport continue to flourish supported by a strong club culture and providing opportunities for juniors to develop and learn. I hope I can contribute to that goal.

TOMMY MORWOOD - VICE PRESIDENT

The triathlon community has been a huge part of Tommy's life for the past 12 years. He met his wife in the sport, and these days can be seen on the weekend running whilst pushing his pram with the kids.

His involvement includes:
Competed at over 150 triathlon events, including 5 world champs (China, New Zealand, Hawaii, Australia). Sprint Distance and off-road racing are his passion. He is often heard on the mic as a race commentator in NSW events

He has been a committee member with The Hills Tri Club for 10 years including 4 years as Club President, during which time the clubs administration:
• Grew membership to over 400, making it the largest club in NSW.
• Led Hills to successive club championship titles
• Supported the growth of the Hills Tri Series into what is now the most popular club race series nationally, with over 1500 annual participants
• Built on, encouraged and developed a great sense of participation and enjoyment at all levels.

Professionally, Tommy holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA). He operates a multi-million dollar retail business with 50 employees.

His combination of tertiary qualifications, business leadership and passionate club involvement means that he has an extensive skill set available to bring to the Triathlon NSW board.

“I’ve really enjoyed working on triathlon development at club level for the past decade, and I look forward to making a further contribution by assisting with the development of the greater NSW triathlon community.”

LUCY BURGMANN

Lucy joined the Board of Triathlon NSW because it’s a great way for her to make a contribution to the wonderful sport of triathlon and to assist the many people who volunteer their time and effort to make it happen.

Lucy has corporate governance qualifications, as well as many years’ experience as a director on not for profit and boards of sporting organisations. She worked in the public, private and community sectors, in policy development, member services and management roles.

Lucy also classifies herself as a (very) amateur triathlete with Balance & UTS Triathlon Club, and has a real interest in growing triathlon through encouraging even greater participation rates.

Why does she want to contribute to the sport of triathlon as a member of the Triathlon NSW Board?

My focus as a board member is on helping the organisation to make strategic, creative decisions, supporting the staff in their roles, and ensuring accountability to members and stakeholders.

JOHN STROUD

John has been involved with triathlon since the late 1990’s, starting out as an apprehensive and somewhat reluctant “conscript” into a BRW Corporate tri team. But then he was hooked! After joining a local Northern Suburbs Tri Club, and intending to do just short races, he somehow found himself progressively stepping up the race distances – so that by 2004, he was on the start line for the first of what turned out to be five Ironman events!

Along the way, John became active in the running of his club, holding various Committee positions over some 10 years, including three years as President. More recently, John has spent more time serving as a Level 2 Technical Official, serving as event Technical Delegate &/or Race Referee.

John has also become increasingly interested in the broader development of triathlon, seeking to assist in raising its operational professionalism and governance standards towards best practice – hopefully in the process, assisting in promoting it into the “top tier” alongside sports such as swimming and football. This led to his nomination for the TriNSW Board in 2012.

Why does he want to contribute to the sport of triathlon as a member of the Triathlon NSW Board?

I hope to bring the combination of my identification with the ordinary Age-Grouper “weekend warriors” who constitute the bulk of the membership and the hard-working Committee members who sustain our clubs, with my relevant business skills/experience.

The latter includes many years in various sectors of the finance industry to senior management levels; consulting to Boards or Investment Committees of institutional investment bodies; and membership of such Investment Committees or other Board Sub-Committees, as well as industry professional association governing bodies.

MICHAEL GLEESON

Michael was Admitted to the NSW Bar in May 2010 having continuously practised as a Barrister in the United Kingdom from 2000-2009. Michael's legal expertise is in the areas of Criminal, Family and Sports Law.

Michael is a passionate triathlete and proud member of Balmoral Triathlon Club. Michael's best triathlon moment to date has been the 2014 IM Australia event and finishing with a personal best time of 11:44 minutes.

STEVEN NEWMAN

Steven attempted his first triathlon in 1998 as an unhealthy young man and with discipline and focus his triathlon experience culminated as a Ironman World Championship qualifier 14 years later. Steven is still very competitive to this day and loves the challenge of competing as a top age grouper whilst balancing work and family commitments.

He has been an active committee member of the Illawarra Triathlon Club since first joining in 2002, seeing the club into incorporation and through significant growth in both the senior and junior ranks.

Professionally Steven is a commercial executive with formal qualifications in Engineering (BE) and business (MBA), he has 15 years of contract and commercial experience on billion dollar infrastructure projects of state significance and has a depth of knowledge and exposure in policy, planning, legal, governance and commercial aspects. His down to earth attitude and ability to listen and make informed decisions are key attributes that he brings to the Triathlon NSW Board.

Why does he want to contribute to the sport of triathlon as a member of the Triathlon NSW Board?

I have seen, experienced and participated in the growth of Triathlon over the past 19 years as an athlete, volunteer, club committee member and organiser. I want to draw on my past experiences and recent input from the Illawarra Triathlon Club to make a real difference to a sport that I love and care about. Being an active member of the Triathlon NSW Board provides an avenue to effect real change.